Applications running on a telematics platform in a vehicle may require data communications with computer systems outside of the vehicle. For example, one application may be designed to collect vehicle diagnostic data and transmit the collected data to a central server for further processing. Another application may transmit a request for local traffic or weather. Still another application may request entertainment or news updates. To accomplish these communications, each of the vehicle applications in the telematics platform must have the necessary communications software and be configured to establish a temporary data link between the vehicle and computer systems outside of the vehicle. This additional communications software for each of the applications increases the complexity and size of the applications.
The vehicle applications requesting data transmission between the telematics platform and computer systems outside of the vehicle may not be tolerant of communications errors during connection. For example, if an application requests data from a computer system and the connection fails during data transmission, the entire process is halted and the vehicle application must re-establish a communications link with the computer system and request the information again. This takes time and resources away from the vehicle applications primary function.
There are at least two ways that the data transmission can fail. The first is if a socket connection between the vehicle application and the remote server experiences an unrecoverable error. This error may be caused by, among other things, internet network outage, heavy load on the server, or unrecoverable packet loss or corruption during wireless transmission. The second is if data connectivity between the vehicle application and the cellular carrier is lost unexpectedly. This may occur because of fading of the radio-frequency channel, interference, or network outage.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system and method for improved reliability for wireless data communications between vehicle applications in a telematics platform and computer systems outside of the vehicle. In addition, it is desirable to reduce the complexity and size of the vehicle applications. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.